In this document, I hope to clarify what the guild principles are. What we want from the guild, how we plan to get there, and what we expect from each member of the guild. :) Please read the full post!
As a guild, we want...
- to have a good time when we play
- to have a tight-knit community and make (new) friends, and strengthen existing relationships
- to create a fair gaming atmosphere with equal chances for everyone
- to be moderately succesful in raiding 10mans; and to allow each guildie a fair chance to participate
- to have a good reputation on the server to ensure success in the future
What can you expect from your guild leadership (in terms of getting to these goals?)
- we organise activities/raids; a sufficient amount each week
- we recruit people based on their character, not on their toon's level/class; at the same time, being sensible about guild balance
- we have clear loot rules (prioritizing with the wow-loot.com priority scheme)
- we make use of our own invitesystem (Invite List) to determine the line-up for each run, and follow the same rules for every run so everyone has a fair chance of attending a raid
- we help other guilds out where possible (most notably, when a befriended guildmaster asks us to fill spots in their raid, and the situation warrants it, we will ask in guildchat whether people are available to help out)
- we try to give a good example and promise to apply rules equally and fairly
One thing we want to make clear: yes, we are casual in the way that we don't have any requirements to attendance for raids or events, but we *are* committed.
To reach the above goals, we expect certain things from you:
- a team-based approach to the game. When you know someone is looking for an item and you have it, consider offering it for trade.
This doesn't mean you have to be selfless; you also have to keep in mind that an upgrade for you is an upgrade for the team. When you have to make a choice, think of how it benefits the team; not only when it comes to loot and items, but also when it comes to your actions and attitude.
- a mature approach to the guild. Communicate when you have questions or do not necessarily understand the choices being made by the guild leadership. We will be happy to explain or try to work out any problems you might have. (We do not really appreciate complaints being made to guildies who are not part of the officer/GM team - this does not solve anything and just creates drama) This also includes being open to advice.
- fair play. Do not break the Blizzard terms of service (by buying gold, botting, or having someone else powerlevel your character); do not grief/corpsecamp players of the opposite faction outside pvp arena's or battlegrounds
- your best behaviour in mixed company; this includes raids, parties, battlegrounds, and the various chat channels. Treat 'strangers' like you would treat guildies: with respect.
- You are/have been invited for being you. Not for your class, level, or gear. This is why we feel strongly against character sharing. If you want to share your account with a spouse or a child, that is up to you; but we want you to play your own toon at all times. It is slightly different when spouse and child have their own characters in our guild as they have also been invited on their own merit; but we do not want to find out halfway through a raid you let someone else play your toon while you yourself were away from keyboard. Not only do we consider this rude, but it is also a matter of skill at playing your character. Someone who didn't level your toon to 80 does not know how to play it as well as you do.
We want you to prevent conflicts of interest:
- Although we are a casual guild, we still raid regularly. Some considerable effort is made by people in the guild to make these raids happen, and whereas we won't pressure people whatsoever to attend them (if you dont want to go thats totally fine), it really isnt looked favourably upon if you lock yourself to these instances with another group, therefore making it harder for the guild raids to go ahead. The reasoning is if everyone did this, the guild would rarely raid together (which is something we set out to do), and therefore as a guild we could deteriorate to little more than a glorified chat channel. Therefore we ask you as a guildie to consider the guild as a whole, before going on any raids with people outside the guild. Sometimes we don't have a problem with this (say the guild has finished/wont be raiding that instance that week) but before joining up with another group, we'd really appreciate you ok it with the guildleader or an officer by talking to them in game, or dropping a message, on the website, or by other means.
An exception to this rule is Tol'Barad as it is a PvP-oriented raid instance like VoA.
- We are not an alt guild. There are situations in which someone might want to get away from their main guild for a while and we don't mind showing someone in that situation what we are like, *but* we want to be #1 in your priority list (how else will we get anywhere as a community?) and do not consider it fair if you just level an alt with us because we're so friendly and giving, and then gquit to join some raiding guild.
We hope this makes sense, and that you understand this is entirely for the good of the guild. How each specific situation is handled is up to the guild leadership, but guildies can expect us to take decisions in line with the principles stated or call upon a guildie if they would in some way violate this code.